TRADE UP / WHO THIS IS FOR / 09 — GENERAL CONSTRUCTION

Know the number. Run the job.

For general contractors and builders — job costing that tells the truth, draw schedules that protect cash, and a project rhythm that holds a schedule without you in every decision.

09REMODELING · NEW BUILD · GENERAL CONTRACTING

General contracting is the trade with the most moving parts and the least visibility.

A remodel touches a dozen trades, hundreds of selections, and a budget that shifts every week — and most builders don’t know whether a job made money until months after the keys change hands. By then the lesson is too late to price the next one. Meanwhile the schedule slips because the tile was picked late, the electrician double-booked, and the draw came in behind the payroll it was supposed to cover.

We install job costing that reports while the job is still running, a draw schedule built around your actual cash outflow, and a selections process that front-loads decisions before they can stall a trade. Then the operating rhythm — sub agreements, a weekly look-ahead, and a client-communication cadence — that keeps projects moving without every question routing through you.

What we see

Where general construction businesses leak.

Sound familiar? It should — these are the patterns in nearly every general construction business we talk to. None of them are craft problems. All of them are fixable.

01

No job costing in real time

You find out a job lost money at tax time — long after you could have done anything about it.

02

Draws behind the spend

Payroll and material bills landing before the draw that covers them, funded off your line of credit.

03

Selections stall the schedule

Waiting on a tile decision while three trades sit idle and the schedule quietly slides two weeks.

04

Subs no-show and re-sequence

No written agreement, no look-ahead — so the crew that shows up sets your schedule, not you.

What we install

Built for general construction, not adapted to it.

Real artifacts installed in your business over a 90-day engagement — plus brand and marketing bolt-ons that can run on their own.

i

Live Job Costing

Budget vs. actual by phase while the job runs — so you can correct on this project, not the next one.

ii

Draw & Cash Flow Schedule

Draws timed to your real outflow, so the bank line stops subsidizing your own projects.

iii

Selections Process

Decisions front-loaded with deadlines and allowances — the single biggest schedule fix in remodeling.

iv

Sub Agreements & Look-Ahead

Written scope, written rates, and a three-week look-ahead every trade actually sees.

v

Client Communication Cadence

A weekly update that ends the "what’s happening?" calls and makes referrals more likely.

vi

Builder Brand & Portfolio

Photography, project storytelling, and positioning that earns the higher-scope jobs.

How healthy is your business, really?

Ten questions, two minutes, an honest grade — plus where to focus first. Free, no email required.

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Asked by general construction owners

Fair questions.

We already use project management software. Isn’t that job costing?
Most PM tools track tasks and documents beautifully and tell you almost nothing about margin. Job costing means knowing, this week, what a phase was budgeted at and what it has actually consumed. We’ll use whatever software you already have — the fix is the discipline and the report, not another subscription.
Our subs won’t sign agreements or follow a schedule.
Some won’t, and those are usually the ones costing you the most. In practice, most subs respond well to written scope and a look-ahead — it protects them too. We start with your best trades, make it easy, and let the schedule reliability do the recruiting for you.
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Build a construction business worth running.

Book a 30-minute discovery call. We’ll talk through what’s working, what isn’t, and whether an engagement makes sense. No pitch deck. No pressure.

TRADE UP · BY TESSERA BUILD CO. BASED IN SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS SERVING U.S. & CANADA REMOTELY